1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a therapeutic apparatus used mainly for a therapy for hyperbilirubinemia of neonatal infants and, to a light-beam therapeutic apparatus superior in safety including an apparatus body portion as a light source having an operating section and a display unit and, separately from the apparatus body portion, an optical fiber connected to the light source and a pad portion configured to place a neonatal infant thereon for performing a therapy.
2. Prior Art
A plurality of medical light-beam therapeutic apparatuses of this type configured to perform a therapy by guiding a light beam from a light source to a therapeutic portion via an optical fiber as described below, although not a pad-type, are known.
As a first known technology, there is proposed a light irradiating apparatus or a light-beam therapeutic apparatus including an apparatus body portion having a light source, a light guide portion extending from the apparatus body portion, and a hand piece coupled to the light guide portion on the side opposite from the apparatus body portion, and being configured to irradiate an object to be irradiated with light from the hand piece, characterized in that the light guide portion is composed of an optical fiber bundle having bundled optical fibers, and a light-homogenizing member configured to substantially homogenize an output distribution of light irradiated from the optical fiber bundles is disposed in the interior of the hand piece portion (see JP-A-2005-56608).
In the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of the first known technology, since the therapy is achieved by irradiating affected areas of human bodies or animals with a substantially homogenized output light, therapeutic effects desirable for a medical application which requires a homogenous output light distribution such as a thermal therapy for joint pain or bedsore by means of infrared ray, treatment of macula by means of laser beams may be expected. In particular, this apparatus is effective when treating tissues of cancer or the like by a photodynamic therapy (PDT) because light irradiation with high homogeneity is possible. In addition, since the irradiation is achieved from many angles freely by the optical fiber bundle, the operability is superior.
A second known technology is a light-beam therapeutic apparatus including a light source, a plurality of first optical fibers optically connectable with the light source, a plurality of probes optically connected to the plurality of first optical fibers respectively, and a light guide controller configured to switch the first optical fiber to be optically connected to the light source from among the plurality of first optical fibers (see JP-A-2006-223665).
In the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of the second known technology, it is possible to irradiate an affected area with a light-beam output from the light source from each of the plurality of probes without attenuating the output. Therefore, a therapy for a deep portion of a body is facilitated and reduction of therapeutic time is achieved. In addition, since irradiation from the plurality of probes is achieved using a single light source, relatively low production costs are achieved in comparison with the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of the prior art that requires the same number of light sources (for example, laser elements) as the probes.
A third known technology is a light-beam therapeutic apparatus including an optical system configured to converge and guide light from a plurality of different light sources, an optical fiber cable configured to multiply carry the converged and guided light, and a hand piece including at least one projector lens configured to project an output light from a distal end of the optical fiber cable disposed therein (see JP-A-2006-217990).
In the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of the third known technology, the plurality of light sources are provided intensively into one machine and hence space saving is achieved. Light in a plurality of different wavelength regions may be combined as needed.
In the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of the first known technology, the light guide portion is composed of the optical fiber bundle including bundled optical fibers, a light-homogenizing member configured to substantially homogenize the output distribution of the light irradiated from the optical fiber bundle is installed in the interior of the hand piece portion, so as to perform a therapy by irradiating the visible affected area with homogenous and spot-like output light. However, the light-homogenizing member and the optical fiber bundle are fixedly and continuously coupled instead of coupling by insertion of a plug into a socket so as to prevent the light emitted from the light source from leaking to the outside, whereby the light source and the optical fiber bundle are prevented from being easily separable.
The light-beam therapeutic apparatus according to the second known technology is configured to be capable of irradiating the affected portion in the body with the light-beam output from the single light source from each of the plurality of optical fibers and probes provided at distal ends thereof without attenuating the output on the basis of time division by the light guide controller. However, the light-source side and the optical-fiber side are fixedly and continuously coupled to the light guide controller disposed between the light source and the optical fiber so as not to be easily separable.
In order to achieve the space saving, the light irradiating apparatus of the third known technology is configured to include the plurality of different light sources provided intensively into a single machine (housing), a single multiple-carrying optical fiber cable configured to optically converge and guide light from these light sources so as to extend from an upper surface of the single machine (housing), and a lens configured to project the combined light in the plurality of different wavelength regions from the distal end of the optical fiber cable and irradiate the affected area with the combined light. However, in the same manner as the first and second known technologies, the machine including the light source integrated therein and the optical fiber cables are fixedly and continuously coupled so as not to be easily separable.
For the light-beam therapeutic apparatus of this type except for those of compact and portable types, a specific therapy room is provided and operators such as the doctor or nurse who handle the therapeutic apparatus perform a therapy by operating the apparatus using a remote controller from a space partitioned so as not to be exposed to therapeutic light beams. The compact and portable light-beam therapeutic apparatus for neonatal infants is used by being placed on a cradle with wheels attached and brought into a neonatal infants' room isolated from the outside in many cases. In the neonatal infants' room, a number of beds for neonatal infants are arranged and, especially, a light-beam therapeutic apparatus which emits blue, green, or blue-green light for perform a therapy for hyperbilirubinemia is used in such a manner that a neonatal infant accommodating space is provided on part of the cradle, and a therapy is performed in a state in which the neonatal infant is accommodated in the space. However, the doctor or the nurse who handles the therapeutic apparatus operates with specific eyeglasses because looking at light beams of the blue, green, or blue-green light for a long time negatively affects his or her eyes.
However, in the portable therapeutic apparatus of this type, there are a connection of a power source cord with respect to the apparatus body and a connection of the light-guide optical fibers with respect to the light source in the apparatus body, and parts of the cord or the optical fibers protrude from the cradle. However, in the operation of moving the neonatal infant or changing the body position for the therapy, there is a case where the cradle or the apparatus body portion falls, especially, in a case where the optical fibers are pulled or the operator's hand or elbow is unintentionally caught by the protruded portion and hence the operator lifts up and moves the neonatal infant abruptly and strongly in a mad rush, such that the delicate skin may be injured or the therapeutic apparatus may be dropped to the floor and hence broken. Therefore, there is a safety problem.